PM Modi asked BJP parliamentarians to cover 15 km each day on foot between October 2 and October 31, the birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.

PM Modi asked BJP lawmakers to cover 15 km each day between October 2 and October 31.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instructed BJP parliamentarians to go on a 150-km ''padyatra'' or foot-march in their constituencies to mark "Gandhi 150" or the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

At a meeting of BJP lawmakers on Tuesday, PM Modi asked everyone to cover 15 km each day on foot between October 2 and October 31, the birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.

PM Modi also asked Rajya Sabha members to participate in the padyatras and visit constituencies where the BJP's organisation was weak, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters.

"These yatras will focus on the revival of villages and making them self-reliant, plantation drive and zero budget farming," said Pralhad Joshi.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman briefed the lawmakers on the budget and called it "visionary".

"PM told the meeting that whatever we said in our Sankalp Patra (election manifesto) should be reflected in our vision of the future," said the minister told reporters.

The 15-km a day padyatra will cover "every booth" and the lawmakers will use the chance to propagate Mahatma Gandhi's teachings and ideology.